What drives brand decisions in Québec

May 31, 2008

Girlfriends and blondes.

The term "girlfriend" took on rather negative connotations
this week. Like "white house intern" did a few years ago. Granted,
she was quite the girlfriend and the boyfriend should have known better. This
isn't a political blog so I won't go further with this.

But the "girlfriend" thing brings up a unique
aspect of coupledom in Quebec where a "girlfriend" is known as a
"blonde". It might be because blondes have more fun although the expression isn't used in French.

Interestingly, being someone's "blonde" is not limited to
girlfriends. It's very common in Quebec to hear a 45-year-old man refer to the
mother of his children as his "blonde" and her referring to him as
her "chum".

It might have something to do with the
fact that there are proportionally more common-law unions in Quebec than in the
rest of Canada (see the chart below). You move in with someone that's
your "blonde" or your "chum" and you're still together 20
years later with kids to whom mom (even a brunette mom) and dad are each other's "blonde"
and "chum".